BPL technical standards announced

For many rural residents, the acronym for Broadband over Power Lines, BPL, might as well stand for Broadband over Propane Lines. Neither is delivering broadband as an alternative to wire line broadband offered (or frequently not) by cable companies and telcos.

Illustrating the still nascent state of BPL is a news release issued today by the IEEE Standards Association that establishes technical standards for BPL.

Tech coalition wants to use TV airwaves for broadband

The Washington Post reports Microsoft, Google Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Philips are pursuing an alternative fixed terrestrial route for wireless broadband using unused TV channels. The companies must first demonstrate the technology is feasible using a prototype device being developed by Microsoft and persuade the Federal Communications Commission the service won't interfere with existing broadcasts, The Post reported.

"Broadband drought" in the land down under

A first step is to build fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), extending optical fibre from telephone exchanges to street-corner nodes from where houses would be served by their telephone connections.

Telstra has offered to invest $4.2 billion in FTTN but has it on hold because the regulatory environment does not suit it.

Meanwhile, it is pursuing persuasion and public relations. "We have a broadband drought in this country, there's no question of that," Dr Burgess says. "This week the Government announced a broadband program at 256 kilobits per second, at almost the same time as Singapore announced a program to bring 100 megabits per second to 95 per cent of its population."

Comcast chief: DSL becoming the new dial up

Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts told the recent Bear Stearns 20th Annual Media Conference that given cable's broadband speed advantage over DSL, cable is to DSL what DSL is to dial up. Therefore, Roberts declared, DSL is the "new dial up."

Roberts' remarks reported in The Motley Fool would certainly give indigestion to lots of folks in places like El Dorado County who are stuck with dial up, unable to get DSL and often located only a mile or two -- or less -- from existing Comcast cable. Adding insult to injury, Comcast's Web site will inform visitors that cable is available in their ZIP codes when in fact it's not.

Telco/cable duopoly kills proposed legislation requiring disclosure of broadband deployments

This item comes from Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge, reporting on the successful lobbying efforts by the telco/cable duopoly to kill proposed Maryland legislation that would have required broadband providers report to the state on their deployments.

Apparently the telco/cable duopoly fears embarrassment and potential regulatory directives to expand broadband deployments if Maryland residents were able to determine the location of these companies' broadband black holes.

AT&T/Yahoo! High Speed Internet partnership in flux

AT&T is negotiating with Yahoo! over the future of its six-year-old partnership that features Yahoo! Web ads for AT&T's residential DSL service, The Wall Street Journal reports according to this Reuters story today.

One likely reason is AT&T has tapped out the Yahoo! market for its DSL services and lacks the necessary infrastructure to sell additional DSL connections to Yahoo! clickers such as your blogger who are constantly greeted with the message "AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet is not yet available" for their home phone number.

Additionally, given AT&T's promo rate of its lowest speed DSL service for $14.99 a month, there may not be enough money in the deal to justify continuing its partnership with Yahoo!

Wireless in America's heartland

Wireless broadband is best suited to America's heartland where line of sight radio signals travel relatively unimpeded over flat terrain. It's a natural interim alternative to more costly fiber wire-line based systems in places like Altus, Oklahoma. The city is entering negotiations for a citywide wireless broadband utility that will bring not only provide high speed Internet, but also bring money into the city's coffers.

Fiber consortium calls for national broadband policy

The Fiber to the Home Council, which describes itself as nonprofit consortium of telecommunications and networking companies as well as utilities and municipalities promoting the deployment of Fiber To The Home (FTTH), is calling on Congress to promulgate a national policy objective of providing next-generation (fiber versus metal wire based) broadband networks to a majority of Americans by 2010 with universal access by 2015. "To ensure that consumers can both receive and transmit video and other high-speed services, applications, and content, these networks should have transmission speeds in excess of 100 Mbps and symmetrical access capabilities," the FTTH Council said.

The FTTH Council is also urging Congress to enact legislation providing tax incentives for next-generation broadband deployment, preempting state laws barring local governments from building broadband infrastructure, reauthorizing the Rural Utility Service Loan Guarantee Program for next-generation broadband networks, permitting the Universal Service Fund to be used for next-generation broadband network deployment and earmarking $500 million in USF funds for broadband deployment in rural areas. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission should be required to issue annual reports on next-generation broadband network deployments and include recommendations on additional policies that would accelerate the deployment of next-generation broadband networks, the FTTH Council said.

The case for local government broadband initiatives

Thanks to Eldo resident Ron Britvich for passing along this comprehensive report by Becca Vargo Daggett of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Its premise is the "last mile" of the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure is a broken down highway onramp, clogged with Internet traffic jams of data on their way to the 10,000 lane fiber optic freeway that carries Internet traffic. It posits the best way to clear the backup is to bring fiber optic cable to all homes, which Daggett notes unlike copper-based DSL has a built in future growth capacity for decades to come. Currently the overall carrying capacity of the Internet in the U.S. is quite low because of the traffic jam on this critical "last mile." The Internet is only as strong as its weakest link, Daggett observes, and it's pretty weak in the United States.

The privately owned cable/telephone company duopoly that provides nearly all Americans their Internet access isn't likely to upgrade to fiber for the foreseeable and under current regulations has no business incentive to offer universal broadband access.

Daggett asserts that high speed Internet should be treated like other critical public infrastructure such as highways and municipal utilities like water and sewers. She lays out several scenarios for publicly owned, open access high speed Internet networks that contrary to the fears of telcos and cable companies don't cut them out of the picture. The report includes several case studies of local government open access networks. It also features a very clear and thorough description of various wire line and wireless high speed Internet technologies.

Future of the last mile: Fiber beats out wireless

A research study on behalf comms regulator Ofcom has found that wireless systems cannot compete on technology or cost grounds with optical fibre systems for the provision of broadband services to the user.

A six month research study, carried out by a group led by Plextek for Ofcom, was set up to investigate the use of wireless technology as an alternative for the provision of last mile communications to the home.

The study found that wireless cannot realistically compete with fibre for the provision of future broadband requirements over the whole of the last mile.

Municipal fiber in the heart of Silicon Valley

Most people probably think Silicon Valley lacks broadband black holes. After all, it is California and the nation's high tech capital and home the Internet's biggest innovators and suppliers.

But as a recent item on this blog showed, that's not necessarily the case. Much to his surprise, BusinessWeek's Silicon Valley bureau chief recently moved to a new home on the wrong side of the digital divide, smack dab in Palo Alto. So it's no wonder the Palo Alto City Council is moving forward with plans to construct a city wide fiber optic system. According to this story, Palo Alto may be the first city in the Golden State to do so.

FCC rules local governments cannot impose build out requirements on telcos

The Federal Communications Commission has adopted a ruling that bars local governments from imposing "unreasonable" requirements on telephone companies seeking franchises to offer enhanced broadband-based video services. That includes requiring telcos serve areas designated by the local government in order to avoid the formation of broadband black holes where service isn't available because a telco doesn't want to make the necessary investment in infrastructure.

Here's a relevant excerpt from the 109-page order:

32. The record demonstrates that build-out requirements can substantially reduce competitive entry. Numerous commenters urge the Commission to prohibit LFAs from imposing any build-out requirements, and particularly universal build-out requirements. They argue that imposition of such mandates, rather than resulting in the increased service throughout the franchise area that LFAs desire, will cause potential new entrants to simply refrain from entering the market at all. They argue that even build-out provisions that do not require deployment throughout an entire franchise area may prevent a prospective new entrant from offering service.

33. The record contains numerous examples of build-out requirements at the local level that resulted in delayed entry, no entry, or failed entry. A consortium of California communities demanded that Verizon build out to every household in each community before Verizon would be allowed to offer service to any community, even though large parts of the communities fell outside of Verizon’s telephone service area. Furthermore, Qwest has withdrawn franchise applications in eight communities due to build-out requirements. In each case, Qwest determined that entering into a franchise agreement that mandates universal build-out would not be economically feasible.

Content providers could make a big play for the pipes

When television was a relatively new technology, mass communications theorist Marshall McLuhan predicted it would produce an electronic global village linked together by a medium so powerful that the medium itself would be as important as its content. Thus, McLuhan famously pronounced in his 1964 book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, “the medium is the message.”

If McLuhan were alive today, he’d surely say the same about Internet and with great emphasis. It’s become such a powerful global medium that it’s threatening to reshape TV itself along with other traditional media outlets such as radio and print publications. Because the Internet can transport all forms of communication and do so interactively, it’s arguably McLuhan’s uber medium. It’s no wonder that newspapers, television and radio are paying homage to the Internet, scrambling to get their content on it.

Given the power of this emerging medium, expect to see content providers to take a greater stake in owning Internet infrastructure directly as cable provider Comcast already does. Last year, News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch complained about the current patchwork state of Internet access, with large numbers of people unable to obtain broadband connections to the Internet. Murdoch and other media titans could end up making plays for telcos and cable companies to speed broadband deployment in order to reach larger audiences for their content.

If they were joined by big Internet content amalgamators Yahoo! and Google, their economic power would be enormous, able to finance a crash program to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure to support near universal broadband access. It’s also quite conceivable that the debate over network neutrality in which the cable and telcos claim they should be able to charge media content providers for access to their systems (net neutrality advocates say they shouldn’t) could provoke media content providers to launch hostile takeovers of big telcos and cable companies. You want to charge us to use your pipes? Forget about it; we want those pipes!

Telcos like Verizon that are putting in fiber optic based systems that offer adequate bandwidth to easily carry all types of Internet content now and in the near future will likely be the most attractive takeover targets. By contrast, AT&T’s strategy utilizing both fiber and its legacy copper cable plant could make it a less attractive target for a media company. But Ma Bell would certainly have to be on the list by virtue of her sheer size and ownership of vast swaths of the nation’s Internet infrastructure.

Silicon Valley startup has big plans for wireless broadband coverage

This venture capital-backed Silicon Valley startup was mentioned on this blog about a year ago. M2Z says it will build a nationwide broadband network that will serve one third of the U.S. population within three years, two thirds within five years and 95 percent within ten years.

Wisconsin offers tax incentives for broadband infrastructure investment

Wisconsin is offering up to $7.5 million in tax incentives to companies that will make investments, over the next two years, in equipment designed to provide broadband Internet availability to unserved or underserved areas of the state.

California PUC a toothless watchdog on broadband access

The California Public Utilities Commission announced it's accepting applications from broadband providers seeking statewide franchises under the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act (AB 2987). The PUC said it will report on broadband availability in California by tracking households by census tract to determine which have broadband access and/or subscribe to broadband services. The PUC also said it would be "a vigilant watchdog in ensuring that this critical upgrade to the state's communication infrastructure reaches consumers of all income levels."

While the PUC's support for universal broadband access is laudable, AB 2987 doesn't give it the teeth to be that vigilant watchdog. The big telcos and cable companies aren't required by the legislation to build out their systems in order to offer broadband to all Californians. Instead, they are required to offer broadband to only half or less of their service areas by 2012 -- and there are are loopholes that reduce that requirement. The PUC can bark and snarl, but it has no bite when it comes to bridging California's digital divide, which by the way has little to do with a household's income but rather its location.

Verizon earns analyst plaudits for upgrading copper to fiber

Verizon paid a short term share price for committing itself to replace copper cable endangered with obsolescence by skyrocketing digital bandwidth demand. But the telco is earning high marks from industry analysts for adopting its FTTH (Fiber To The Home) strategy that better positions the company in the long term to offer the triple play service package of voice, high speed Internet and video since fiber offers far greater carrying capacity than copper. Local governments also see the long term fiber advantage, with some engaged in public/private partnerships to put in fiber-based systems, particularly in areas where legacy metal wire based systems aren't expected to be replaced with fiber in the foreseeable.